Rotherham United enjoyed a fruitful 2021-22 campaign as they finished second in the EFL League One, meaning they have earned automatic promotion to the EFL Championship. The Millers finished the season with 90 points to their name, and they had a record of 27 wins, nine draws and 10 losses with a goal difference of +37. Rotherham’s biggest strength was undoubtedly their defence as they leaked only 33 goals in 46 games. This was particularly important given that they netted only 70 goals, which was only the eighth best in the division. However, one attacker that proved useful to the Millers’ campaign was Freddie Ladapo.
Ladapo made 31 appearances for Rotherham United in the recently concluded EFL League One season, making 22 starts for a total game-time of 2069 minutes. He netted 11 goals during the course of the campaign whilst also providing two assists, which means he had a goal involvement every 159 minutes. He scored at a rate of 0.44 per 90, which was actually less than the 0.51 xG per 90 predicted. Ladapo ranked in the top 2% of forwards in xG per 90. He also fired off 2.57 shots per 90 with over 42% of his attempts finding the target, generating an xG per shot of just under 0.2. With over 3.65 touches in the opponents’ penalty area per 90, he ranked in the uppermost quintile for this category.
As seen from the above shot map, Ladapo scored all but two of his goals from inside the box. None of them came from the penalty spot. In fact, the overwhelming majority of the shots that he attempted came from inside the box only. The Englishman attempted 72 shots, meaning his shot conversion rate stood at 6.55 shots taken per goal scored.
As displayed in the above heat map, Ladapo was mostly active in the attacking third and occasionally in the midfield. However, when he dropped into midfield, it was only to avoid being offside as he rarely put in a defensive shift for the Millers. At times, he was playing the role of a classic poacher, staying just onside and positioning himself for a pass.
Unsurprisingly, most of the passes received by Ladapo were in the attacking third and quite a good chunk of these also came inside the opposition’s penalty area. A very little percentage of his touches came in Rotherham’s half. He was non existent on the defensive end.
Freddie Ladapo’s goals surely played a part in Rotherham’s promotion to the EFL Championship. However, he has left the club and joined Ipswich Town this summer as his contract expired.
